 At times I think of my story as a journey, being a long and complicated one. And then I sit and reflect on the lessons, the heart aches, sleepless nights, fears, joys, meeting new friends, losing some friends, and most of all the never-ending blessing that come with conflict of the hear aches that also come with the up against the wall feeling, the voices of defeat, the voices of encouragement.
When Kathie turned 40 she told her husband that she wanted to go to Women’s Quest. She had never traveled alone and she was scared as she walked into a room full of the most fit, athletic women she had ever seen. “So there I was. I dove in thinking ‘what in God’s name have I done?’” She was a simple runner, swimmer and occasional biker, 5 and 10k’s and now she was surrounded by world class triathletes. Instead of turning away, she said to herself, “I will learn”.
As the week went by, she learned to not hold back and that it was ok to feel vulnerable. She realized (when she was on top of a 70 foot ropes course) that the Women’s Quest group was healing and that there was an unimaginable amount of support that a group of women can offer each other.
 “When I was 70 feet off the ground and holding on with a death grip onto the pole of death, the voices of defeat were swimming around in my head saying, ‘You can’t do this. Aren’t you scared? Get down from there’, but with my soldiers on the earth beneath me, encouraging quietly, asking me ‘What do you need Kathie. What do you need from us to say or not say?’ So I was given the freedom to actually tell someone what I really needed from them and what I did not need. And it was ok. I was gently reminded that the voices were just in my mind and not real. I told myself to let go and look fear in the face and I did.“
Kathie left that week a new woman. She walked away from the retreat feeling emotionally and physically stronger with the quest of doing a marathon one day. But the best gift that she received from that first Women’s Quest retreat was the strong bond that she found with women and the knowledge that they can be an incredible support system.
In the time after Women’s Quest, Kathie joined many causes and worked toward her goal of completing a marathon. She dedicated her running to support Leukemia and Lymphoma and ran for a 5-year-old survivor named Samantha. She completed her first half marathon, started bike riding in a charity event and developed a yoga practice. What came next was something that she could have never prepared for…. A small melanoma.
With the diagnosis of the melanoma she began to listen to her body and decided to get a small lump in her breast. A little lump that was diagnosed as breast cancer. She immediately thought of others. She had to now face this for her kids, her husband, her animals and she chose to live. Kathie saw her cancer as an uninvited guest in her body. A body that she could look at, a mind and spirit that was being challenged to face fear, denial, uncertainty, but she knew she could fight it.
 “I saw Samantha fight this, she won and now she was praying for me. Now I was digging deep into the soul for tools. I reflected on the Women’s Quest death pole (as I call it). I was reminded that the soles of my feet are where I am grounded and that my soldiers were on the ground for me and I just needed to let them know what I wanted and needed. I was uplifted by this reflection and looked cancer in the eye and thanked it for visiting and told it that it better hold on because we are going on a run, a hard run and I will win in the end.”
Kathie went through years of surgery, treatments, body changes, and then another cancer presented itself in her body. This time it was uterine cancer. She began to ask why. She had always tried to take care of the body that she was given, but as she learned, it doesn’t matter who it is, it can strike and it only takes one cell to go bad.
“So this is when it really begins, or should I say continue. I had struggles, I had doubts, I had or have to worry for reoccurrence. I have fears because I have buried so many friends from this uninvited guest I call cancer, but truly, when these words strike, you learn to find the new normal in life. I fought and I still fight. The journey goes on. It gets different, but it goes on. You gain new friends and you lose old ones.  Some forget about you maybe because seeing you this way is too painful for them. But I learned quickly that in order for me to become who I needed to become out of the cards I have been dealt, I had to face the demon. I had to pull out the tool-box I had acquired at Women’s Quest and get to work. So I did”
After her surgeries, Kathie had a new body. She had a breast-less chest, an abdomen without ovaries, or uterus, and the hair on hear head gone. She realized that it was time to create her new self. She was given a second chance and it was up to her. Kathie began to embrace her new body and he new feelings. She became more alive and in doing so she was able to share with others. She became a breast cancer speaker, a founding member of Caroline Breast Friends Cancer Resource Alliance and Pink on the Move as well as the owner of Soul Moving Yoga. She also wanted to be involved in programs that joined animals and humans and became a co-chair for Dog Jog as well as an active board member for her local Humane Society.
 As a 7th year survivor, Kathie is grateful for the freedom to be the woman she chooses to be, the aches of her muscles, her lungs that feel as though they have no more oxygen as she bikes or runs up a hill, the quiet time she has with her horses and all the time she spends with her husband and children. She is grateful for this because she can FEEL that she is ALIVE.
“I believe in really listening to the inner self. Standing up for what you believe. Supporting each other and all walks of life. Being aware of the messages that are given. Never passing up an opportunity to grow, no matter how fun or painful it can be. Telling the ones you love how important they are now, instead of at their celebration of life ceremony…”
Kathie has dedicated her life to encouraging women to become more aware of their body and well-being. Her businesses, Pink on the Move and Soul Moving Yoga have been growing and she has dreams of adding Doga (yoga with your dog) to her program.
 www.carolinabreastfriends.org
www.soulmovingyoga.com
www.wataugahumanesociety.org
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